


Help Wanted

by Blizzard96



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Fate & Destiny, Gen, Hongjoong works for Fate and he's tired
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 18:47:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20262796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blizzard96/pseuds/Blizzard96
Summary: Hongjoong has a pretty decent job working for fate, dispensing karmic rewards and punishments on a case by case basis. It'd be even better if his employees stopped abandoning their positions once they found their soulmates. The solution? Find people tired and broke enough to stick with gig without messing up the plans of fate. It may be a little harder than expected.





	Help Wanted

“You’ve _got _ to be kidding me,” Hongjoong groaned, “Again?!” He was on the brink of hurling his phone into the nearby lake he was currently walking around, but managed to reign the impulse back in at the last moment. At that instant, a couple passed him on the path and gave him an odd look as they hurried by. At any other time Hongjoong would feel embarrassed by the scene he was making, but at this point he was just way too exasperated to care.

“Sorry,” Seonghwa’s voice replied. To the other’s credit he actually did sound apologetic.

“I _just_ hired them.”

“And your new hire decided to quit and pursue his soulmate,” Seonghwa replied. Hongjoong could practically hear him shrugging down the line. “That’s the way it is sometimes.”

“That’s the way it is most of the time,” Hongjoong muttered. He wrinkled his nose as he stepped over a particularly nasty looking puddle in the middle of the dirt pathway. “What do they think this is? A 10k slow burn fanfiction? This is a job!”

The elder laughed. “Can you blame them though?” The worst part was that he really couldn’t. For most normal people it was a dream to meet their soulmate, and Hongjoong would be hard pressed to stay mad a someone for seizing their opportunity at happiness. That didn’t mean he couldn’t bitch about it in the moment though.

“Do we not pay well enough or something?” Hongjoong asked, running a hand through his hair. “Can we ask the guys upstairs if we can offer a higher pay or like… benefits?”

“For part-timers?” Seonghwa snorted, “You may as well just try and stop fate for all the luck you’d have there.” Hongjoong blew out a breath, knowing the other was right.

“This sucks,” he said petulantly.

“Yep,” Seonghwa replied, “Now go find some new hires to bring in for an interview. We’re going to get backed up on cases if you can’t hire someone in the next week.” Hongjoong groaned as Seonghwa hung up. He shoved his phone back into his pocket and kicked at a pebble on the path in front of him. The rock bounced forward a couple times before rolling off the path and into the mud. This was not how he had planned on spending his lunch break.

* * *

Hongjoong was a messenger of fate. More accurately, he was an employee of an employee of a messenger of fate, essentially making him barely more than a glorified intern of fate (though at least he got paid). Sure, there were some perks that came with the position, such as the ability to make himself intangible and to influence the space and relationships around him, but normally he was off running errands around the city. These errands could range from ensuring that two people destined to be together forever met, to getting coffee for the office. It was not a glamorous job.

He couldn’t really complain too much though. Occasionally his job was emotionally rewarding, especially whenever he got to bestow karmic goodness on a particularly deserving soul. Perhaps it was these moments that kept him coming back to work every day. Well, that and the fact that the salary was actually pretty good for an entry level position and also enough for him to afford a nice apartment with his friend Seonghwa.

Seonghwa worked in the same kind of position as Hongjoong, though he was in a different department. As far as Hongjoong could tell, the other sat behind a desk all day and reviewed the cases that came through, doling out reward and punishment as objectively as he could. Hongjoong was grateful for the other boy. He couldn’t imagine doing his job without being able to complain with someone else in the evenings over two plates of takeout.

The worst part of working for fate was, by far, the turnover rate. Hongjoong felt as though he was constantly hiring and training employees. It wasn’t a quick orientation either, and often Hongjoong would train someone for weeks, only to still end up with them resigning. Seonghwa joked that the younger had a soft spot for hopeless romantics, and it always bit Hongjoong in the ass. 

One of the most difficult parts of the job was not becoming biased when it came to the different people they interacted with. Hongjoong was practically a master of this, completing his orders and clearing cases without a hitch. His new hires, by contrast, were way too prone to taking fate into their own hands. Hongjoong couldn't even count the number of times he’d had to stay late at the office filling out paperwork because one of his underlings had decided to dispense their own sense of justice or match up people who just weren’t fated to be together.

By far the most headache-inducing cases were the employees that found their soulmates after starting work. That always ended up in some kind of mess, the kind that would totally upend Hongjoong’s own assignments and result in him scrolling through the evening looking for more potential recruits on LinkedIn or Craigslist. Hongjoong absolutely _hated_ it.

He glanced at his watch. It was almost half past twelve, which meant the higher ups (the much higher ups) probably wouldn’t have noticed his underling’s resignation yet. If he hurried back to the office to catch the new recruit, maybe he could save this whole train wreck. However, deep in his gut, Hongjoong didn’t really believe it.

* * *

“Listen. Sanha, wasn’t it?” Hongjoong said, staring at the boy he’d hired no more than a month prior. “I know this is a new and unexpected chain of events-“

“She’s just the best, isn’t she?” Sanha interrupted, eyes shining. Hongjoong felt a headache coming on.

“Yes, I get that she’s beautiful-“

“And funny and smart!”

“Yes. Okay. But you still have a job to do, so you can’t be pursuing her,” Hongjoong pressed. He put all of his effort into willing Sanha not to say what he’d heard a thousand times before from a thousand prior employees.

“But I love her!”

“Oh Jesus,” Hongjoong said, using every ounce of willpower not to groan. He could practically hear Seonghwa laughing his ass off all the way down the hall.

“That’s another one!” Seonghwa would say, drawing a tally mark on his dry erase board titled ‘Number of Times Hongjoong has Hired the Wrong Person’. Hongjoong would never hear the end of this in their apartment that night.

“But your job,” Hongjoong tried, though he knew at this point he was fighting a losing battle. The kid was completely starry eyed about this girl, his soulmate. It would probably be cute if Hongjoong’s hand wasn’t already cramping as he imagined all the paperwork he’d have to fill out with Sanha’s resignation.

“It doesn’t matter!”

“You’ll forget about all the work you’ve done here. All of the people you’ve helped… the different cases… it’ll be gone. Forever.”

At that, Sanha actually looked a little conflicted. A small ember of hope ignited in Hongjoong’s chest. He knew that Sanha was one who truly loved the work they did as employees of fate, though this might be because Hongjoong only sent the pleasant work of making people happy and matchmaking Sanha’s way, while Hongjoong himself usually took on all the depressing work of delivering karmic vengeance. Maybe Seonghwa was right about him being too soft-hearted.

“I…” Sanha wavered. Hongjoong held his breath. “I don’t care!” Hongjoong actually did groan this time, not caring if he put a damper on the kid’s attitude.

“You’re really sure about this?” Hongjoong asked.

“Yes!”

Hongjoong stared at the boy’s determined expression and resigned himself to a night of filling out all the forms over his TV dinner. He pulled open a drawer on his desk where a stack of documents sat, already typed out and ready to go. He really was too used to this. “Alright, let’s get everything signed.”

* * *

Seonghwa did, in fact, laugh when he arrived at the apartment and found Hongjoong tiredly scribbling through the paperwork on his TV tray. Hongjoong was sitting in one of their two squashy armchairs in the living room as some drama played in the background, and he was attempting to get through the documents at warp speed. The places of where to sign and initial were practically burned into his memory with how often he had to do it. 

Seonghwa remained laughing for long enough that Hongjoong set his pen down and glared at the other. The older boy hadn’t even managed to close the door behind him from where he was doubled over on their welcome mat (that did not actually say ‘Welcome’ but instead read ‘Come Back With Food’).

“Are you done?” Hongjoong asked after a few minutes when Seonghwa’s laughter finally started to wind down.

Seonghwa let out a few more giggles. “Okay, I’m good.” He shut the door and locked it before hanging his set of keys on one of the hooks they stuck by the door. “Another deserter?”

“Unfortunately,” Hongjoong muttered.

“What was it this time?”

“Love,” Hongjoong said dryly.

“Remind me to update my whiteboard at work.”

“I most certainly will not.”

“That’s okay, I’ll just set a reminder on my phone.”

“I hate you.”

“I know,” Seonghwa dropped his work bag near the kitchen counter, “What do you want for dinner?” He walked into their tiny kitchen and started digging around in the freezer.

“The deep fried concept of soulmates.”

Seonghwa resurfaced with a variety of microwave dinners. “Mmm, sorry all I have is chicken and pasta.”

“That’ll do,” Hongjoong sighed, before pushing his TV tray away from the chair and getting up to fetch the other TV tray as Seonghwa popped one of the dinners in the microwave. A few minutes later they were both eating their meals in front of the television, Hongjoong having set his work aside to avoid spilling food on it.

“You really have no luck with this stuff, huh?” Seonghwa said around a mouthful of pasta.

“Nope,” Hongjoong said, glaring at a piece of chicken as if his own screw up was its fault.

Seonghwa leaned over as far as the armchair would allow and patted Hongjoong on the shoulder. “You’ll just have to try again.”

Hongjoong sighed and sat back in his chair, suddenly not feeling very hungry. “When am I going to find some dedicated employees willing to stick with the mission and not think too hard about their roles?”

“You’d need someone pretty tired and desperate for that,” Seonghwa agreed. “And also someone willing to do a lot of work for no job benefits. And keep weird hours. And-“

“Stop,” Hongjoong groaned. He picked up one of the small decorative pillows on the chair and attempted to suffocate himself with it. Seonghwa waited patiently for Hongjoong to lower his pillow. “Where am I going to find an employee like that? Who in their right mind would do this job?”

“Like I said,” Seonghwa speared a piece of chicken and some broccoli with his fork, “You need someone tired and desperate.”

Hongjoong sat back up and pushed the TV tray away. “I’m going to run down to the corner store real fast. I need ice cream to cope.” He got up quickly and grabbed his keys on the way out.

“Get me a tub too!” He heard Seonghwa yell before the door closed behind him.

* * *

The walk to the corner store was short, the shop only being two blocks away. The meager distance didn’t give Hongjoong too much time to dwell on his current predicament, for which he was grateful. The bell above the door jangled when he walked in.

He knew that the ice cream was kept in large freezers toward the back of the shop. The tired looking cashier didn’t even move when Hongjoong blew past him and made a beeline toward the back. Hongjoong scanned the different flavors slowly, though he didn’t have much reason to do so as he and Seonghwa got the same thing every time, and finally took a moment to reflect on his roommate’s words.

Working for fate was a demanding task. The pay was good, but the benefits that came with it were fairly limited. Seonghwa was also right about them working weird hours. There had been times in the past when Hongjoong had been called into the office at three in the morning to rectify some horrible decision that threatened to unravel fate’s whole plan.

_Someone tired and desperate indeed_, Hongjoong grimly thought as he grabbed two tubs of ice cream from the freezers. He walked up to the front of the shop to pay, noting that the store was empty except for him and the cashier. It must have been a pretty slow night.

“Is this all?” the tired cashier, Yeosang according to his name tag, asked.

“Yeah,” Hongjoong said, pulling out his wallet. He then blinked as he took in the cashier’s disheveled and exhausted appearance.

“Five twenty-seven,” Yeosang said, holding out a hand. Hongjoong continued to stare at the cashier, an idea forming in his head. The cashier cleared his throat, snapping Hongjoong out of his daze.

“What?”

“Your total? That you have to pay for goods and services?” Yeosang said.

“Oh. Right,” Hongjoong said, handing over a ten. The other boy popped the cash register open and started pulling out change. “Slow night?”

“Yeah,” Yeosang said, “You’re the first customer in twenty minutes.”

“Wow,” Hongjoong said. “Are most nights like this?”

Yeosang shrugged. “More or less on weekdays. Here’s your change.” He handed over a few bills and coins that Hongjoong absentmindedly put in his wallet.

“Do you like your job?” Hongjoong asked.

The cashier raised an eyebrow, clearly starting to get weirded out by Hongjoong’s questions. “Uh, I mean it pays alright. Why, do you want to work here? We might be hiring. I can ask my manager.”

“No, no,” Hongjoong said, waving his hands. “It’s just. Why this job?”

“I have bills and student loans,” Yeosang said, “And they work around my college courses.”

Hongjoong paused. _Tired and desperate…_The answer was there all along. “That’s it!” he yelled, startling the cashier.

“What’s it?” Yeosang said.

“College kids!” Hongjoong said, an oddly wide smile stretching across his face. “I always thought high schoolers would be the best because of their flexible schedules, but you guys just don’t care anymore!”

“Care about what?” Yeosang asked, looking thoroughly bewildered.

“Fate!” Hongjoong said. He scooped up his ice cream tubs and waved to Yeosang. “Thank you for your help! I’ll be back!”

* * *

Yeosang stared blankly at the spot the strange man had been just seconds before. “I don’t get paid enough for this.”


End file.
